Someone might be stealing the print version of the paper, but you can tell friends to read the paper online. Use my sample text below; copy and paste it into an email or Facebook post (darn that Facebook) to help spread the word.

I care about my community and so does The Rock River Times. Please read The Rock River Times.

If you think that is too much, how about:

Friend,

A Rock River Times columnist wrote a sappy, self-serving article about how great The Rock River Times newspaper is. He said the paper had great local news, especially the sports, music and entertainment coverage. Even though I don’t agree with everything I read in the paper, he’s right. It is a great local newspaper and you should read it online at http://www.rockrivertimes.com. Like and tweet the heck out of it, too.

You are reading this article online, so use email and social media to tell your friends and family about The Rock River Times, a newspaper so good that people are stealing it!

Paul Gorski (www.paulgorski.com) has been a technology manager nearly 20 years, specializing in workflow solutions for printing, publishing and advertising computer users. Originally destined to be a chemist, his interest in computers began in college when he wrote a program to analyze data from lab instruments he hard-wired to the back of an Apple lle.